Mass Effect: Vignette: War Against the Self
by Lawlessness45
Summary: Shepard!" The sub harmonics of Garrus Vakarian jolted June's focus. She became aware of her protesting muscles, unable to block out the trembling of her limbs or the burning of her lungs as she gasped desperately for air. She felt exhausted muscles weaken. She knew the exact moment that weakness overwhelmed them, making them snap to slack. She felt herself falling...


**I know there are run on sentences and editing errors I missed. I just wanted to post it. I like it. It makes me happy. And maybe it will make someone else happy? Anyway, guess a little explanation is in order. This is based off my Shepard Character. Her name is June Shepard. She is a Spacer, War Hero, Paragrade, romanced with Garrus Vakarian. This is set sometime after Mass Effect 3. I took quite a bit of liberty, assuming she lived after destroying the Catalyst, but only as a broken and battered solider. No one really knows what destroying the Catalyst has done to her, (both her organic and inorganic functions), so they are having quite a bit of trouble. She is going through Rehabilitation, trying to learn to walk again, with the best doctors the Alliance and Galaxy can provide. I know very little about the medical advances and procedures of Mass Effect (I'm trying to do more research), so there are most likely errors in that aspect. This is just the one day in her life, a vignette, really. I will probably post more of these, but as of now, this is the only one fit for consumption. My editing is still pretty terrible, so I apologize for any mistakes. Happy reading!**

$$$ War against the Self $$$  
>-Sometime after the events in ME3-<p>

"Shepard!" The sub harmonics of Garrus Vakarian jolted June's focus. She became aware of her protesting muscles, unable to block out the trembling of her limbs or the burning of her lungs as she gasped desperately for air. She felt exhausted muscles weaken. She knew the exact moment that weakness overwhelmed them, making them snap to slack. She felt herself falling. Felt her palms connect with the harsh metal, and by god, she couldn't stop her down ward momentum. She connected with the floor with an embarrassing thud, her head snapping against the metal like a rubber band and for a moment her vision swam. When she returned to her senses, she was acutely aware of pain working its way through her mending body. She felt a scaly palm grasp her shoulder, and if she had the energy she would've pulled away out of sheer stubbornness.

"By the spirits Shepard!" Garrus exclaimed a little too loudly for her throbbing head to process.

"Garrus...I'm fine." She mumbled, forcing herself into a sitting position, despite the screams of her bones.

"No, you're not." His voice was unusually harsh, and she found herself glancing at his flickering mandibles, a definite sign he was more than a little upset. "Get Dr. Moran in here, damn it." He hissed to his omni tool.

"Garrus." She steeled her voice. There was no way in hell she was going to be put on another week of bed rest because of this...this...failure.

"You're bleeding." He turned hard eyes to her, his coarse hand wiping blood she hadn't even noticed from her forehead. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket, and dabbed at the small gash. She found herself attempting to dodge his concern, swiping at the spot with the back of her trembling hand. Irritated at what she deemed overly protective behavior, she focused on transferring the blood from her hand on to her shirt. At this point she didn't give a damn about the blood stains. Garrus was nothing if not persistent, however, and despite her noises of protest and weak attempts to avoid his concern he eventually pressed the cloth against the wound. Anger seemed to radiate from his skin. Shepard would have to be an idiot to not feel the tension in his body and gaze.

"What the hell were you doing?" The sharp edges of his voice added to her irritation, and she found herself replying in kind, voice harsh.

"What does it look like? Walking down the goddamn hall."

"Without assistance? Without the Exosuit? Without biotics? Without so much as a hand rail?!" He questioned, placing his arm behind her back in an effort to support her traitorously shaking frame. His warmth, which was usually a comfort, seemed to burn her taut skin. Strangely, she still found herself shivering.

"I was doing fine until you interrupted me." She replied hotly, once more attempting to loosen his grasp. He would have none of it, and shifted with her, his arm wrapping around her side. Goddamn it! She couldn't even manage to scoot away from him! She felt her body protest even this small act of defiance. She hated the weakness that pulsed through her with every heart beat.

"By the spirits Shepard. Are you TRYING to kill yourself?" Genuine concern quieted his words as he ran a hand over his fringe in an expression of confused exasperation. June recognized the tone of his voice, reminiscent of their first night together, before the Collector Base. _-I just want something to go right, just this once- _She felt her irritation dissipate, and a deep, overwhelming fatigue settle over her form.

"No Garrus." She sighed, voice subdued, futility worming its way through her speech." I was just trying to walk." She averted her eyes, letting exhaustion soften her face, and draw her lips downward.

His eyes calmed then, and he sighed, clasping her face in his palms, his touch tender, despite the prick of his talons against her skin. "You cant power your way through this, June."

Her eyes snapped to his, a questioning challenge in her gaze. Garrus answered the look, not pausing in his admonition. "I know that's how you do it. You keep going. You don't stop, consequences be damned. But this isn't war, June. There are no Geth, no Reapers. You can't make yourself the enemy to conquer." He paused, wiping the trickle of blood from her brow, mandibles fluttering as he sighed. "June...you can't keep doing this to yourself."

"I agree. You are doing more harm than good. Pushing yourself like this causes muscle damage and encourages implant deterioration." The thick voice of Dr. Moran cut through the moment almost tender moment, and Shepard found herself beset by medics, and quickly moved onto a stretcher. She stifled a grunt of pain at the swiftness of the movement, involuntarily jerking in reaction to the discomfort coursing through her limbs. Dr. Moran's astute eyes narrowed at this, his brow furrowing. Pausing for a moment he tapped some calibrations into his omni tool and he waved his hand over her body. Before Shepard could protest the action he had a full readout of her implant function, heart rate, oxygen levels, and overall tissue damage. He shook his head slowly, the noises of displeasure and hardness in his eyes told Shepard all she needed to know."You've dislocated an implant as it is, June." Garrus swore under his breath, and Moran glanced in his direction, stating firmly, "I'm can probably realign it without an invasive procedure IF you haven't sustained tissue damage during the misalignment." He paused to give Shepard a scathing look, before stating sternly, with a hint of disappointment, "The realignment will require at least 1 week of bed rest without the invasive procedure. We can discuss further treatment options in the clinic." He turned to the medics by his side and stated quietly,"Please return the Commander to the med bay and prep her for an implant realignment procedure. I need to access the mainframes medical files and fill out an incident report."

"Really, doc? " She questioned. "Can't you just say I tripped and be done with it?"

"If that was what actually occurred, then yes. I could. Since that is not the case, however, I'll have to file a full report." He replied, eyebrows raised, slipping into a familiar tone. "In the meantime, please think about how this can be avoided in the future." His tone softened slightly, "You and your mother seem to share a stubbornness that a charging Krogran would have difficulty penetrating. This really isn't aiding your recovery June. It's creating more setbacks then leaps forward. Think about that, will you? At any rate, I'll see you shortly."

"I look forward to it, doc." She replied, voice dry, dripping with uncharacteristic sarcasm. As Dr. Moran turned toward the mainframe she tossed her arm over her eyes and muttered, "I feel like I was just scolded by my father," her voice low.

Despite the circumstances Garrus chuckled. "You may have met your match in that one, June."


End file.
